Determinants of the Web accessibility of European banks

This paper aims at identifying the factors influencing the implementation of Web accessibility (WA) by European banks. We studied a database made up of 49 European banks whose shares are included in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX® TMI Banks [8300] Index. Regarding the factors for the implementation, we considered three feasible reasons. Firstly, WA adoption can be motivated by operational factors, as WA can aid in increasing operational efficiency. Secondly, we expect large banks to have higher WA levels, as small firms face competitive disadvantages with regard to technology adoption. Lastly, WA can also be understood as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, so, the more committed a bank is to CSR, the more prone it will be to implement WA. Our results indicate that neither the operational factors nor the firm size seem to have exerted a significant influence on WA adoption. Regarding CSR commitment, results indicate a significant influence on WA adoption. However, the effect of the influence is contrary to that hypothesized, since more CSR-committed banks have less accessible Web sites. A possible reason for this result is that banks not included in the CSR indexes try to overcome this drawback by engaging in alternative CSR activities such as WA.     

Knowledge asset similarity and business relational capital gains: evidence from European manufacturing firms

This paper leverages the concept of absorptive capacity to explore whether similar configurations of intellectual capital (IC) are associated with the performance of relational capital in firms. It proposes a novel implementation of graph theory to analyse similarities in knowledge assets. We use Community Innovation Survey data to examine 5813 manufacturing firms in 13 business sectors and 13 European countries. While firms rely on external relations to compensate for a lack of internal assets, we find that a company’s propensity to cooperate in innovation is associated with its own IC profile. In particular, firms with common knowledge assets are more likely to benefit from business relational capital. The main contribution of this study lies in a holistic approach to understanding how similarities in knowledge assets are linked to gains in business relational capital.     

Lay perceptions of collectives at the outbreak of the H1N1 epidemic: heroes, villains and victims

Lay perceptions of collectives (e.g., groups, organizations, countries) implicated in the 2009 H1N1 outbreak were studied. Collectives serve symbolic functions to help laypersons make sense of the uncertainty involved in a disease outbreak. We argue that lay representations are dramatized, featuring characters like heroes, villains and victims. In interviews conducted soon after the outbreak, 47 Swiss respondents discussed the risk posed by H1N1, its origins and effects, and protective measures. Countries were the most frequent collectives mentioned. Poor, underdeveloped countries were depicted as victims, albeit ambivalently, as they were viewed as partly responsible for their own plight. Experts (physicians, researchers) and political and health authorities were depicted as heroes. Two villains emerged: the media (viewed as fear mongering or as a puppet serving powerful interests) and private corporations (e.g., the pharmaceutical industry). Laypersons' framing of disease threat diverges substantially from official perspectives.     

Football boundary-layer separation via dust experiments

A method of examining the separation of the boundary layer of air from a sports ball, specifically a football, is presented. Using a ball launcher, a non-spinning football is fired into a dust cloud. A high-speed camera records the ball passing through the dust cloud. Unlike wind-tunnel methods, the dust method described here allows for the examination of the boundary-layer separation without a ball-supporting arrangement. Boundary-layer separation for speeds surrounding the drag crisis is studied. Though the general trend is for the boundary layer to separate farther back on the ball as the ball’s centre-of-mass speed increases, anomalous behaviour is seen just past the drag crisis, namely a rise in the separation angle, followed by an expected decrease.     

第13届国际ISSI大会论文投稿、评审及录用分析

 第13届国际科学计量学与信息计量学大会（ISSI 大会）于2011年7月4日-7日在南非德班召开。作为大会议程主席和理论专题主席,本文作者介绍了大会论文征文和投稿的内容及形式,展示了论文评审机制与评价指标,并对提交论文、录用论文及评审专家的国别分布做了分析。中国是提交全文和研究进展论文最多的国家,作者总频次居各国之首,但论文录用率较低。中国也是提交墙展论文最多的国家,显示了中国学者参加国际ISSI大会的热情。由来自25个国家95名成员组成的大会科学委员会中只有一名中国委员,这提示我们中国学者应该更积极地参与国际会议的学术和组织工作。论文最后讨论了中国学者投稿国际ISSI大会,走上国际论坛的几个问题。     

Identifying the information management process and knowledge creation in technology-based companies: a Brazilian comparative case study

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - Information and knowledge have been cited over the last two decades as competitive advantage tools. Recently, the use of them has been discussed to...     

Anagram solving and reading abilities in children

The relationship between anagram solving and reading aloud proficiency was studied in Italian and French 6th grade children. Whereas a statistically significant relation was found in Italian, the link was not so direct in French. French children's ability in solving anagram problems seemed to benefit from their capacity in recognising written word-forms (lexical decision) and using the direct lexical reading route. Statistical properties concerning lexical entries appeared to be in an intermediate stage of computation. It is thus concluded that anagram solving may highlight some developmental stages and processing strategies in the acquisition and elaboration of written language.     

Counting strategies from 5 years to adulthood: Adaptation to structural features

The aim of this study was twofold. First, it evaluated the developmental changes on frequency of use, efficiency, and choice of counting strategies from childhood to adulthood. Second, it determined the adaptation of the counting strategies to the structural features of the task. Participants in seven age groups ranging from 5-year-old to adulthood were asked to count dots in arrays varying on size, arrangement, density and size of the subgroups. The nature of the strategies used and their efficiency, i.e. speed, accuracy and rate of manual pointing, were recorded using the overt behavior technique. The developmental pattern of results for the four main strategies, counting by ones, by ns, addition and multiplication, was in line with Siegler’s overlapping waves model. The structural features affected the use of the strategies since 13 years, except for the multiplication strategy. Finally, intra- and inter-individual variability in strategy showed a monotonous increase with age. Implications for understanding the development of counting skill are discussed.